Graffiti is an art form that dates back thousands of years. Graffiti has been found on the walls of cave dwellings used by the earliest humans. Ancient Rome has also found graffiti dating back to B.C. The modern graffiti we know today that can be found on almost every city block of major cities across the globe, as well as every continent except Antarctica. Many people consider graffiti to be a brand of vandalism, others find it to be one of the best art forms to date. People who find graffiti to be a bad thing are stereotyping graffiti, they believe the only graffiti that exists is the illegal scribbled trash found on garbage cans and subways. This is only a small portion of what graffiti can be, there are many other types of graffiti out there. Many store owners pay professional graffiti artists to create massive murals on their buildings. Other cities have large lengths of wall dedicated to clean graffiti being produced by the community to create a sense of unity. Graffiti started off in the 1960's in America in New York City. It was used by the street messengers to mark where they had been while on deliveries. This expanded into a world wide phenomena over the decades. There are four types of graffiti that can be found, with many branches. There is tagging, gang, hate, and generic brands of graffiti. Tagging is quick and repetative, used to mark territory. This is the type of graffiti used in Tangerine. Gang graffiti makes up 10% of all graffiti, used to mark territory or spots for drug selling. Hate graffiti is used to express a racist opinion againt ethnicity, race, or beliefs. Generic graffiti is the category that incudes "throw ups" which are multi colored pieces that take several minutes. "Masterpieces" are the projects that span buildings and rail cars.
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| German Graffiti |